Rodrigo Valles Jr

Profile Picture: "Mission completed, but I wasn't ready to go" Acrylic, spray paint and oil pastel on unprimed canvas 60x48x1.5 inches

Artist Statement: Rodrigo’s figurative heroes are references to his youth as a first-generation Mexican American growing up in Texas. They pay tribute to the working class by way of pop icons and cultural references. Rodrigo’s abstracts are homages to the visual layers created by time, use and decay in the urban settings he has called home along the Northeast. As an academic, Rodrigo gained insight into his style when he discovered a 2011 journal article by physicist Richard Taylor of the University of Oregon. The article describes a very simple and eloquent analysis of the fractal patterns created by Jackson Pollock’s most well recognized and valued works and the correlation to the naturally occurring fractal patterns in nature. Indeed, humans recognize and prefer these patterns during everyday existence and in art. Rodrigo proposes that his abstracts are appealing for reasons that are innate, primal and codified into our genetics but through the lens of visual imagery, colors, layers and patterns that are personal to the viewer. As an added layer of intrigue and insight, Rodrigo repurposes lyrics from hip-hop music as titles for his works. In their new context as artwork titles, they gain new or expanded meaning that convey the thoughts and emotions that are integral to Rodrigo’s paintings.

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